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AMERICAN planes continued a fierce bombardment
of targets in Afghanistan yesterday, more than 100 days after
the conflict began.

There was no let-up in
the relentless bombing as the Pentagon pointed to the fact that many
al-Qaeda troops are hiding in the mountains.

And they revealed that
US soldiers found an arms cache including ammunition and rocket-propelled
grenades hidden in caves and tunnels near Kandahar airport, where Marines
are holding al-Qaeda and Taliban detainees.

But despite the £1.4billion
worth of firepower unleashed on the nation, US spy chiefs said last
night Osama bin Laden fled Afghanistan in December
with henchman Ayman Al-Zawahiri.

They could be in Indonesia
where they have huge support.

A CIA source said: "This
is not good news. Bin Laden and his top assistant can reconstitute now
in places where they have known bases."

Up until day 102 of the
war today 16 American have been killed - but only two by the enemy.

Three Green Berets were
killed by a US bomb near Kandahar, seven Marines died in a plane crash
in Pakistan last week and four military personnel were killed in accidents.

Meanwhile an
estimated 4,050 innocent Afghan civilians, more than the
number of dead in the September 11 attacks, have been killed by at least
12,000 US strikes.

Professor Marc Herold,
of the University of New Hampshire, reached the figure by monitoring
reports from around the world.

He said: "The
critical element remains the very low value put on Afghan civilian lives
by US military planners and the political elite."

Villagers have developed
a knack for knowing when the bombs are coming. When planes make a low
rumble above the mountains of Zhawar, people are cautious. But when
their engines make a deafening roar they run for cover.

Khali Gul said: "We
are very afraid of these planes. We just want it to stop."

Noorz Ali, his village
flattened by US bombs, added: "There were so many bombs I lost
count. The dead remain in the village, everybody else has left."

The Taliban regime is
destroyed and thousands of al-Qaeda troops have been killed or fled,
but Afghanistan still suffers. Other nations agreed to give £14million.
But by January 1 only a 10th was given. The UN
warns of collapse unless £70million is handed over in days.

People are dying of disease
and starvation.
Mountain villages south of Mazar-e-Sharif are snowed in. In some towns
people are trying to survive on grass.

The average life expectancy
is 40 and the mortality rate for children under five is 25.7 per cent.

But Pakistan is refusing
to let more than 13,000 refugees into a border camp - leaving them living
in the open on a bitterly cold, windswept plain.

COMMENT BY GEOFF HOON,
DEFENCE SECRETARY

IT IS more than 100 days
since the US, with strong UK support, began military action in Afghanistan.

Since October 7 coalition
forces have achieved outstanding success.

Very few believed we
would come as far and as quickly as we have.

Al-Qaeda terrorist training
camps have been destroyed. The Taliban regime has been removed from
power and replaced.

We are now leading efforts
to help with reconstruction via the International Security Assistance
Force which will offer the security and stability needed to establish
a new government and rebuild a country ruined by more than 20 years
of war.

The UK contribution to
a force of 5,000 will be up to 1,800 troops. We are also sending 300
troops to help rebuild Kabul Airport.

Military action continues.
Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar are still at large and the al-Qaeda
terrorists still represent a real threat.

That is why air strikes
continue. Operations at Zhawar Kili, for example, targeted a complex
of 60 buildings and 50 caves, many still fit for
use by terrorists.

[TVOTW
NOTE: What about something left for the Afghan population??]

Al-Qaeda must never again
be allowed to establish safe havens from which to mount attacks like
those of September 11.

-----------------------------------------

[FURTHER
TVOTW NOTE -]

Formal
requests and demands were made by the new interim administration in
Afghanistan on 7 December 2001 for Bush to stop the bombing. He and
the US Executive branch of government refused.

(In
accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed
without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving
the included information for research and educational purposes.)

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